New Amsterdam, Mibikuri hospitals receive ultrasound machines worth $10M to expand diagnostic services

To expand the delivery of diagnostic services in Region Six, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony handed over two portable ultrasound machines and seven Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds to Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Vishalya Sharma.

The machines will be allocated to Mibikuri Cottage and New Amsterdam Regional Hospitals to improve medical imaging service at the facilities.

The simple handing over was held at the Regional Bond, New Amsterdam on Saturday.

During brief remarks, Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony underscored the importance of improving diagnostic services, “One of the things that we are trying to do is to improve diagnostic especially medical imaging. This falls into that realm of trying to improve access to medical imaging.”

The health minister said the ministry recently acquired 52 of these beds which can be utilised in the ICU.

“We want you to put it in the areas that it would be best utilised because they have a lot of functional capabilities. We don’t want the regular beds to be in these units because we know from time to time, these patients would require special care where you will have changed the position of the patients,” he urged.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sharma noted that these ultrasound machines would be used to improve healthcare service delivery and the lives of all the people in the region.

She emphasised that there has been a 30 per cent increase in ultrasounds conducted in the region within the last two years.

Some 14,036 ultrasounds were conducted in the region last year as opposed to 2021 where 10,347 ultrasounds were done.

This expansion is not just for ultrasounds but also represents a broad spectrum of diagnostic services across the region, which include x-rays and laboratory services.

So far for 2023, Mibikuri and Orealla hospitals have conducted 50 ultrasounds.

“So, one of the things is that these reports will come in extremely useful as we work to expand our diagnostic services. In 2023 alone, we would have done close to 50 in riverine communities that were very hard to get into. So, this will boost us further…I do look forward to expanding at what we do presently in the region,” Dr. Sharma highlighted.

The government is ensuring that healthcare services are more accessible to all Guyanese.